Video: He denies alleged bigamy found on Facebook

Transcript of: He denies alleged bigamy found on Facebook

MATT LAUER, co-host:Let us begin this half-hour, though, with the man who allegedly had his
double life
exposed on
Facebook
, who's now fighting back. In a moment we'll talk to him and his wife exclusively, but first
NBC
's
Jeff Rossen
has the latest on what is an unusual case.
Jeff
, good morning to you.

JEFF ROSSEN reporting:Hey, Matt. Yeah, to say the very least. Good morning. People get caught cheating on
Facebook
all the time. A photo leaks out and the spouse is busted. Not what happened here.
John France
and the other woman posted the photos themselves, then they got married and posted those pictures. Meanwhile, his other wife logged on and couldn't believe her eyes. One man, two beautiful brides.

Unidentified Man:You may kiss your wife.

ROSSEN:In
2005
, the wedding of
John
and
Lynn France
, the ceremony along
Italy
's stunning
Amalfi Coast
. Then in
2008
, the wedding of
John
and
Amanda France
, this one at
Disney World
, complete with fireworks.

Ms. LYNN FRANCE:Married to me with our
children
in one state and with her in another state.

ROSSEN:Double life
.

Ms. L. FRANCE:Complete
double life
.

ROSSEN:Lynn
, the
2005
wife, had two kids with
John
, living in
Ohio
. Things seemed great. And you click on
Facebook
.

Ms. L. FRANCE:Clicked on
Facebook
.

ROSSEN:And there it was, proof, she says,
John
was cheating with another woman in
Florida
. In fact, the other woman,
Amanda
, posted photos of the relationship on
Facebook
for everyone to see, including
Lynn
,
John
's wife in
Ohio
. What did you see?

Ms. L. FRANCE:Their life together, from their engagement to their photos from that wedding.

ROSSEN:Lynn
says despite the second wedding, she and
John
reconciled last year, but this past May he left her for good and took the
children
with him. Today,
John
is living his new life with his new wife,
Amanda
, and they continue to post photos on
Facebook
, including shots of
Amanda
playing with
Lynn
's kids, writing comments like "putting my little loves to sleep."

Ms. L. FRANCE:To
the two of them
, this is a big joke, and to me it's devastating because it's my
children
.

ROSSEN:You're saying she's lying. Ms.
AMANDA FRANCE
(
Husband Accused
of Leading a
Double Life When He Was Exposed
on
Facebook
):
Big time
, yes.

ROSSEN:Wednesday,
John
and his new wife agreed to sit down for an exclusive interview. You've heard what
Lynn
says...
Mr. JOHNFRANCE
(
Accused
of Leading a
Double Life When He Was Exposed
on
Facebook
): Mm-hmm.

ROSSEN:...that you're leading a
double life
...

Mr. FRANCE:Right.

ROSSEN:...you're flaunting it...

Mr. FRANCE:Mm-hmm.

ROSSEN:...on
Facebook
. What is your response to her accusations?

Mr. FRANCE:Completely absurd.
Facebook
isn't where she found out about the
marriage
. She knew about the
marriage
months prior.

ROSSEN:John France
says his
marriage
to
Lynn
wasn't even legal because of a filing error. So you're saying your
marriage
to
Lynn
is invalid.

Mr. FRANCE:Correct.

ROSSEN:There's no
marriage
.

Mr. FRANCE:There's no
marriage
.

ROSSEN:You basically lived like husband and wife and that, you had rings, you had
children
together.

Mr. FRANCE:Mm-hmm.

ROSSEN:Isn't that just a convenient excuse to pardon your cheating?

Mr. FRANCE:No. I don't think I was cheating. It -- if you have a -- if you have a
marriage
and it's not right from the beginning, it's not right at the end.

ROSSEN:Lynn
also accuses
John
of keeping their kids from her. She hasn't seen her boys in 10 weeks.

Mr. FRANCE:She hasn't seen her kids because that's her choice.

ROSSEN:You're saying right now if she wants to come down and see the kids...

Mr. FRANCE:Absolutely.

Ms. A. FRANCE:Any day, any time.

ROSSEN:...
she's more
than welcome.

Mr. FRANCE:Any day.

ROSSEN:John
and
Amanda
say they just want to move on with their lives together and want primary
custody
of the kids, allowing
Lynn
visitation. Do you have any regrets?

Ms. A. FRANCE:No. No. I regret that we let her get away with the accusations for so long.

ROSSEN:Now this bizarre case is headed to court in
Florida
. Both sides are fighting for
custody
. Now, late last night, we called
Lynn
's lawyer. He told us the
marriage
is valid and they have the documents to prove it, and they call
John
's actions reprehensible, saying the kids should be returned to their mother,
Lynn
, in
Ohio
.
Matt
:

LAUER:All right,
Jeff Rossen
.
Thank you very much
.
John
and
Amanda France
are with us now exclusively along with their attorney,
Gary Williams
.
Good morning to all
of you. Nice to have you here.

Mr. FRANCE:Good morning.

Ms. A. FRANCE:Good morning.

Mr. GARY WILLIAMS:Good morning.

Mr. FRANCE:Thank you.

LAUER:Let's start where
Jeff
left off, this
marriage
, the first
marriage
to
Lynn
.

Mr. FRANCE:Yes. I -- this goes back years ago. This is not new news. I hired Italian attorney to go and confirm if the
marriage
was legal. The attorney came back with affidavits stating that it is invalid and I have affidavits for that.

LAUER:Gary
, are you in possession of those? I mean, can you prove legally that the
marriage
to
Lynn
never was valid and is not valid today?

Mr. WILLIAMS:That's our position,
Matt.
We filed a petition with the courts in
Florida
to that effect and expect that once the evidence is presented we'll find out that that's the case.

LAUER:And
there was a time
,
John
, where you went to
Lynn
and said, `
Look
, our
marriage
is not legal.
We are not married
.' You had that conversation face to face with her?

Mr. FRANCE:We discussed that. Yeah, we discussed that a number of times.

LAUER:And her reaction at that time was what?

Mr. FRANCE:At first she believed it and then she keeps on flip-flopping, OK? But this goes back years, at least two years.

LAUER:Did you also sit down with
Lynn
at some point and say, `
Look
, this isn't working out. I am going to
Florida
. I am now involved with another woman,' that woman being
Amanda
? `I have a new life, I'm no longer involved with you, and nor do I want to be involved with you any longer.'

Mr. FRANCE:She know -- she knew about
Lynn
in
2007
, OK, and...

LAUER:She knew about
Amanda
.

Mr. FRANCE:I mean,
Amanda
.

LAUER:OK.

Mr. FRANCE:I'm sorry.

Ms. A. FRANCE:We knew about each other.

LAUER:So even you're confused by this. All right, she knew about
Amanda
in
2007
.

Mr. FRANCE:Right.

LAUER:You told her this was a serious relationship.

Mr. FRANCE:Yes.

LAUER:So when she says that she didn't know about any part of this other side of your life, the relationship or, in particular, the
marriage
...

Mr. FRANCE:Mm-hmm.

LAUER:...until she looked on
Facebook
, you respond how?

Mr. FRANCE:That's very untruthful because in
October 2008
she confronted both me and
Amanda
about the
marriage
. OK. She -- when we -- when we did get married on
December 31st
, we had the boys with us. She had a couple nannies at that time, so make her feel comfortable, we had one of the nannies, who is one of her friends, watch the kids in
Florida
.

LAUER:When you say you had the boys with you at the time you two got married, did she --
and I
read this and I want to make sure I'm clear on this...

Mr. FRANCE:Mm-hmm.

LAUER:...did
Lynn
send the boys
to be with you
on the occasion of your
marriage
?

Mr. FRANCE:She did not send them, no.

LAUER:No? OK, so the boys were there simply for what reason?

Mr. FRANCE:Well, for one, she was -- it was a previous case where she was on supervised visitation, OK.

LAUER:Uh-huh
.

Mr. FRANCE:That's another issue.

LAUER:OK. The boys have now been with you two...

Ms. A. FRANCE:Correct.

LAUER:...for 10 weeks?

Ms. A. FRANCE:Yes.

LAUER:Ten weeks now.

Mr. FRANCE:Perhaps 10, 11 weeks.

LAUER:And you've heard
Lynn
said here on Tuesday and said again in
Jeff
's piece that she has not been able to see these boys, that you are keeping your
children
from her.
Amanda
, why don't you weigh in here?

Ms. A. FRANCE:That can't be any further from the truth at all. She's -- we bought her tickets to come down, for
Mother's Day
especially. She's canceled them herself, not us. Every day, every weekend, she'll call and talks to the

LAUER:I'm not trying to jump into the middle of your domestic dispute here, but would you take the boys to
Ohio
to see
Lynn
?

Mr. FRANCE:Well, I can't. I can't.

LAUER:Why not?

Mr. FRANCE:Because I -- we have a
Florida
order that says they can't leave the
Florida
jurisdiction because
Florida
has the jurisdiction. There are motions in
Ohio
. They've all been dismissed.
Florida
has jurisdiction, and until the court approves -- we have to get court approval for -- to bring -- for me to bring the kids to
Ohio
.

LAUER:All right. But so again, just to reiterate, you would have no problem -- in fact, you would be willing to pay...

LAUER:...for
Lynn
to fly from
Ohio
to
Florida
to visit with your two boys.

Mr. FRANCE:Absolutely. We -- I have discussed this for many -- so many times with
Lynn
. You have to remember, this has been going on for two years. The
children
have gone back and forth. We have all the travel records going back and forth as far as the time they were with me and time they were with her. It's pretty much split, more in
Florida
than there.

LAUER:You are filing a petition for primary
custody
of these boys in the state of
Florida
, correct?

Mr. FRANCE:For majority
custody
.

Ms. A. FRANCE:Correct.

LAUER:Oh, for majority
custody
. Normally in a situation like this, it would seem to me --
and I
'm not a legal expert and,
Gary
, I invite you to weigh in here -- but the primary
custody
, or majority
custody
, would go with the mom...

Ms. A. FRANCE:Right.

LAUER:...unless the mom is proven to be unfit in some way. Do you feel that
Lynn
is unfit in any way to be a mom to these boys?

Mr. FRANCE:I'll tell you something.
Lynn
has a history, OK.
And I
'm not going to bad-mouth the
children
's mother on
national TV
. She -- we feel that the kids are more stable, comfortable and secure and safe with me.

LAUER:Amanda
, it seems that one of the things that bothers
Lynn
the most is when she looks on
Facebook
and she sees posting of photos with you and the boys and, `I'm putting my little angels to bed,' that sort of thing, that you refer to them almost as your boys. Do you understand that at all?

Ms. A. FRANCE:Yeah, I understand that perfectly. But you know what? They're loved where they are. I love them more than life. And they're not my kids, but when they're with me, you know, I treat them like they are mine. You know, they're not mistreated. I don't know why this is a problem. It should not be a problem. I'm not taunting her. In my mind, taunting, the definition is going on
national TV
and making false accusations...

LAUER:Well, look...

Ms. A. FRANCE:...to
get what you want
.

LAUER:Why do you think...

Ms. A. FRANCE:Not...

LAUER:I mean, that is really -- at the crux of this is that
Lynn
did come on this program on Tuesday under the headline of "I found out my wife -- my husband was cheating or was married to another woman on
Facebook
." It's catchy. I mean, there's no...

Ms. A. FRANCE:This is not the first time she's made a drastic thing for attention.

Mr. FRANCE:Yeah.

Ms. A. FRANCE:This is not the first time.

LAUER:How do you want this to end?

Mr. FRANCE:Well, I want it to end, you know, civilly. I want it to end where both parents, me and
Lynn
, have a relationship with our
children
. I would never prevent a mother from seeing their
children
. Anybody knows me knows I would never do that.

LAUER:And you'll
look at me
in the eye,
John
, and say that you did nothing wrong in this, that you did not cheat on her and you did -- were not carrying on a
double life
.

Mr. FRANCE:I was not carrying on a
double life
. No way. I'm not an angel, OK, but I did not carry on a
double life
.
Lynn
knew everything I was doing for two years. Where's she think the kids were going?

Ms. A. FRANCE:Since
2007
she has known.

Mr. FRANCE:Yeah, where do you think the kids were going? They're -- you know, now she brings it up two and a half years later?

LAUER:One other real quick point. She said you got back with her. After you two married, you begged her to come back and in
2009
you reconciled. Is that true?

Mr. FRANCE:No.

LAUER:You never went back?

Mr. FRANCE:

LAUER:Amanda
?

Ms. A. FRANCE:She has to say that. No. Why would she say that?

Mr. FRANCE:I mean, the court -- the -- we have proof and documents, you know. I'm going back and forth from
Ohio
to
Florida
, and I try to make as convenient as possible for her where I would do all the leg work, all the traveling, you know, and we do the scheduling ourselves.

LAUER:All right. When will this be settled,
Gary
?

Mr. WILLIAMS:It's going to be some time yet,
Matt
, but we do expect to prevail once the facts are presented in a family
law court
, that
John
and
Amanda
should have the boys with them the majority of the time.

In the second part of a tangled he-said, she-said tale of two weddings and a Facebook page, the man accused of bigamy uncovered on the social network claims it’s largely the product of his estranged wife’s imagination.

Tuesday on TODAY, Lynn France said she learned that John France — with whom she had two sons after a gala 2005 wedding — had taken a second bride only when she saw pictures of that second wedding on the Facebook page of John’s new wife, Amanda. Lynn asserts she is still married to John, and that he has spirited away their two toddler sons.

But on Thursday, John France appeared on TODAY with Amanda and an attorney to tell a decidedly different story. He asserted his marriage to Lynn was never valid in the first place, and that Lynn knew what he was up to every step of the way.

“I was not carrying on a double life, no way,” France told Matt Lauer. “I’m no angel, OK? But Lynn knew everything I was doing.”

This photo is among the ones Lynn France says she found on Facebook showing John France marrying another woman.

Two weddings and a Facebook pageLynn France had a storybook wedding with John in 2005 on Italy’s Amalfi coast, and the couple settled into a marriage, raising their two young sons in Cleveland.

But she said that in 2008, she began to suspect something was awry when John took a trip to China and left his passport at home. Later, she found a hotel website up on the family computer screen, and when she went there, found John with Amanda. She said John told her he was leaving her for Amanda.

But, Lynn said, her sadness turned to shock when she tracked Amanda down on Facebook and found pictures not only of Amanda’s bridal shower, but another storybook wedding — this one between John and Amanda at Disney World, without a divorce decree between John and herself.

But on Thursday John told Lauer that Lynn knew full well that a clerical error had rendered their marriage invalid, and that their own children were with him in his new home in Florida when he married Amanda.

“This goes back years and years; it’s not new news,” John France told Lauer. “I hired an Italian attorney to go and confirm the marriage was illegal. The attorney came back with affidavits stating that it was invalid.

“We discussed this a number of times. At first she believed it, and then she keeps on flip-flopping, OK? This goes back at least two years.”

In a separate interview Wednesday, NBC’s Jeff Rossen asked John France whether he is using a legal loophole to pardon his cheating.

“I don’t think I was cheating,” John said. “If you have a marriage that is not right in the beginning, it’s not right at the end.”

Speaking with Lauer Thursday, John said that while the couple’s two boys didn’t actually attend his wedding to Amanda, they were nonetheless with him in Florida — and Lynn had to know a wedding was afoot. “To make [Lynn] feel comfortable, we had one of the nannies — who was one of [Lynn’s] friends — with the kids.”

He said, she saidTuesday on TODAY, Lynn also claimed that John France returned to her early last year and reconciled with her, then suddenly took their toddlers to Florida in May. She hasn’t seen them since, and says she can only keep tabs on them through Amanda’s Facebook page. There Amanda refers to the boys as her “little loves,” which Lynn regards as taunting.

“To the two of them, this is a big joke,” Lynn told NBC. “But to me, it is devastating because it’s my children.”

John France says he’s still sorting through Lynn’s statements, but that none of her accusations are true. He told Lauer he never reconciled with Lynn; instead, he was simply making trips back and forth from Ohio to Florida so Lynn could share in the raising of their children.

And while Lynn claimed she is barred from seeing her children, John’s second bride, Amanda, told Lauer it simply isn’t the case.

“That can’t be any further from the truth at all,” Amanda France said. “We’ve bought her tickets to come down. She’s canceled them herself.”

John France added that he has initiated annulment proceedings against Lynn in Florida and has filed for majority custody of the children, and said that he is thus barred from leaving the state with them.

Appearing with the Frances, John’s attorney Gary Williams told Lauer, “We’ve made numerous efforts to negotiate with Lynn’s visitation, but she’s elected not to exercise them.”

Lauer asked Amanda France whether she can understand Lynn’s pain over not seeing her children.

“Yeah, I understand that perfectly,” she responded. “But you know what? They love where they are. I love them more than life. They’re not my kids, but when they’re with me, you know, I treat them like they are mine. I’m not taunting her.”

Lynn France had a storybook wedding to John France in Italy — but he claims the marriage was invalid due to a clerical error.

While John France told Lauer he hopes the complicated court case between himself and Lynn “ends civilly” and that Lynn continues to have a relationship with the children, he made it clear he believes the boys are better off now.

“Lynn has a history,” he told Lauer. “I'm not going to bad-mouth the children’s mother on national TV. [But] we feel the kids are more stable, comfortable and secure and safe with me.”

Which wife is which?But in a measure of how complex a tale of two weddings can be, France at one point in the interview referred to Amanda as Lynn.

“See, even you’re confused about this!” Lauer chided him.

In a statement to NBC, Lynn France’s attorney, Andrew Zashin, said John France has not exhibited concrete proof he is still not married to Lynn. He added that Lynn did not go on TODAY to publicly embarrass John.

“This narcissistic version of reality is simply incorrect,” Zashin said. “Lynn wants to share her story in order to let people know that they do not have to live as helpless victims. No one should have to go through what Lynn is going through, watching as another woman claims her children on a Facebook page.”